The Gendering of Heroic and Villainous Traits

One trend that is consistent - and has been for the past few decades at the very least - is the way  both heroic and villainous character traits have been gendered.  Generally speaking, female heroes have been given traits associated with nurturing, maternal roles - they are most often congratulated for their compassion, kindness, and gentleness.  Consider what is used to make the audience sympathize with Disney's Cinderella, for example.  While she is shown to be relegated to working around the house, her willingness to

Male heroes are generally put in the 'heroic' role for their physical strength, bravery, and actions associated with a role of protector.  This is not to say that male heroes are not often kind, or that female heroes are rarely brave, but it is a matter of which traits are emphasized more by the story.

Villains are also given similarly gendered traits.  Female villains' failing traits are generally connected to vanity or jealousy, while male villains are often given no apparent motivation aside from pointless cruelty (for example, Hexxus from Ferngully: The Last Rainforest or Thrax from Osmosis Jones).  While greed is a common and seemingly gender neutral villainous trait, it is important to consider what the villain in question is greedy for.  Female characters are often shown to be obsessed with some material obsession - Cruella DeVille's entire reason for wanting the dalmatians is for a fur coat - while male characters are generally shown to have much larger goals - Scar from The Lion King wants the throne.  

Of course, there are always exceptions.

  
Overall, this trend in representation feeds into cultural perceptions of men and women as a whole, where women are still expected to value family and want to have children, while men are expected to be ambitious and the 'breadwinners'.   How could the fact that these representations are primarily directed towards children affect kids' worldviews?  How else are men and women gendered by their heroic or villainous traits?